UNITED KINGDOM: Senior UK Minster Michael Gove had asked Johnson to resign. According to one of his closest advisers, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in a “buoyant mood” and “will battle on” to maintain his position.
According to the recent developments, Johnson has spoken to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, and agreed to stand down. New chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has also urged Johnson to ‘do the right thing and go now’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, one of the embattled premier’s most devoted cabinet members, had eariler joined the mutiny calling for his departure.
Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary James Duddridge stated on Wednesday that he anticipates the prime minister to nominate key cabinet members soon despite continued questions about his leadership.
Johnson is thought to have given him a call from Downing Street to let him know he had lost his ministerial position. The UK PM and the new UK Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi would present a combined economic plan on Thursday, according to a statement from Duddridge.
“He has a 14 million mandate and so much to do for the country,” said Duddridge. “I expect him to make senior Cabinet appointments this evening and am looking forward to hearing what the PM and his fantastic chancellor Nadhim Zahawi have to say tomorrow,” he said.
Johnson not ready to step down
58-year-old Johnson, according to other media reports, is not planning to step down. A source at No. 10 Downing Street said Johnson is still “totally defiant.”
According to reports, Graham Brady, the important 1922 Committee’s chair, warned the committee’s leader that Johnson was likely to lose the Monday executive election, which “may result in another confidence vote.”
“The Prime Minister is conscious he has a mandate from 14 million people (from the 2019 general election), and the only way he will leave is if the party takes that mandate off him,” Johnson said.
The 1922 Committee determines the timeframe for a Tory leadership election. To enter the contest, a Tory MP needs the support of eight of their peers.
A series of confidential votes are held to narrow the field down if more than two MPs nominate themselves and receive enough nominations to run for leader.
It was anticipated that Johnson would resign because a sizable portion of his Cabinet was now clamouring for it. But it appears he is now prepared to battle until the Tory party votes him out in a no-confidence vote.
Following rumours in UK media that she is a member of a group of ministers who have given the troubled prime minister till Wednesday to resign, Home Secretary Patel became the most senior Cabinet member to withdraw her support for Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party.
Following the spectacular resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from the Cabinet, which resulted in a wave of resignations from ministers and government employees totalling 38, the minister of Indian descent has so far stated that she has no plans to step down.
Patel was among the ministers threatening to go if Johnson didn’t acknowledge that his time in Downing Street was up, along with Zahawi, the newly chosen Chancellor to succeed Sunak.
Others who support Patel, 50, include Welsh Secretary Simon Hart and UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Johnson is thought to have been informed by the delegation of top politicians—including Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris, new Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse—that his position as prime minister was no longer viable.
It comes after a day of intense political drama in the centre of Westminster politics in London, during which minister after minister resigned, reportedly the most resignations from the UK government in a single day since the 1930s.
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